Loew's Sheridan Theatre
200-202 W. 12th Street,
New York,
NY
10011
200-202 W. 12th Street,
New York,
NY
10011
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 47 of 47 comments
A couple years back I read that same Valentine issue too. Seems I remember the year as either 1970 or 1971. Auditorium colour shots were of the highest standards, befitting quality always found in Life photographs.
There were also wonderful (where are they now) articles centered around Joan Blondell, Betty Hutton, and Paulette Goddard.
Recenty while browsing Oklahoma University Library I came across color demolition photos for the Sheridan in the Feb (Valentine) issue of Life Magazine. Altough I can’t remember exactly what year it was, I think it was 1969.
Also in the same issue were color images of the NY Paramount and Atlanta Fox.
Martin & Lewis on the PANORAMIC Sheridan screen in 1953. Note the emphasis on W-I-D-E screen, Technicolor, and 3-D to combat the evils of television. And COOL at the top didn’t mean hip.
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Happy Holidays, CTers
Benjamin, that was not the management’s idea to play music from the film before it started. The original “roadshow” prints of 2001 featured an “overature” that was to be played before the film started.
A friend of mine recalls seeing PSYCHO here in the 1960’s.
According to Dan Wakefield’s “New York in the Fifties,” Billie Holiday played a concert at the Sheridan during the summer of ‘57, co-sponsored by Art d'Lugoff (owner of the Village Gate) and the Village Voice. This was apparently her first major NYC appearance since the late '40s. Wakefield writes that she had a nightclub date in Philadelphia earlier that evening, which ended at 11 p.m. A Voice staffer was dispatched to pick her up in Philly, and try to get her to NYC before 2 a.m. as there was a 3 a.m. entertainment curfew in force at the time. Since she insisted on stopping at a bar about halfway through the journey, they didn’t make it until well after 2—“but the police had been greased, and Billie started on the dot of three.”
According to this site, the date was June 15, 1957. Charles Mingus was also on the bill, and Jean Shepherd acted as M.C. Mingus played the theater again later that year on December 7.
http://www.flicklives.com/Timeline/1957.html
Hi – I’m a curator at the Newark Museum doing research on our painting of Sheridan Theatre by Edward Hopper for an upcoming exhibition focused on this work. I am trying to locate interior photographs of Sheridan Theatre, and was hoping someone here might be able to help me locate them for both study purposes and possibly for exhibit.
This website and all of your posts are terrific! I’ve learned so much already about this theatre!
Sincerely,
Mary-Kate O'Hare, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of American Art
The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102-3176
1949 Frank & Gene on the Loew’s nabe run
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Great stuff, as always, Warren. You’re hitting all my favorite neighborhod theaters from the 50s.
Did the Sheridan actually book a new show for Tuesday only back then? During my time (mid 50s+), the programming changed every Wednesday.
I recall that they had posters for the upcoming movies down the sides of the theater, past the bus in the image.
Keep it up, Warren. And don’t forget my Terrace on 23rd St. lol. j
This late 50’s release by United Artists announces it’s “First New York Showing-Starts today at your neighborhood theatre”. In a way this is similar to the Premiere Showcase concept except it’s playing on many more screens. I remember this type of release in the 70’s and 80’s when horror and action films were popular, they would be mass released and then gone in 2-3 weeks.
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Jeez, if Andrew Sarris was complaining back then about the demolition of cool places in NYC, he has much more to complain about these days.
Cool post. I had no idea this theater existed in this space. I know exactly where this would’ve been. As usual…shame.
Usually when you read about theater acoustics, it seems as though theater builders try and make the balcony as shallow as possible because sound gets trapped beneath a large balcony. Putting a hole in the ceiling at the underside of a large balcony would seem to make things worse, not better.
Plus, I know of no Broadway “legit” theater, concert hall or opera house, now or in the past, that had such a hole at the back of the orchestra — and one would think that they would need acoustic “help” as much as any theater. It seems like the only theaters that had such holes were vaudeville theaters or early movie theaters (some of which may have also had vaudeville) like the Rialto, the Rivoli and the Tivoli.
My guess, as I mentioned in the previous discussions on this phenomenon, is that these holes were more of a problem than an asset acoustically speaking, but that they were an inexpensive way to make places look grand and special, and the noise problems they might have created were not considered all that terrible in the more raucous atmosphere of vaudeville or “silent” movies (with organ accompaniment).
One reason I am surprised that I didn’t notice it at the Sheridan, is I find the whole idea really unusually and striking and I’m surprised I would have missed it at the Sheridan. (I remember being quite startled, and taken with the idea, when I saw it used in the late 1960s in the convention area of the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Ave.) Perhaps I missed it at the Sheridan because of the darkness or because I was in a rush? My recollection, apparently erroneous, is that the Loew’s Sheridan had a totally conventional lobby.
I think it’s an interesting phenomenon. It would be interesting to find a history of it somewhere.
Are there any interior photos of this theater on the net or perhaps in a book(s)?
Yes it’s the Sheridan layout and the stone half wall is dead-on.
Just got a look at the Edward Hopper painting that Warren posted. I know the name of the painting is “The Sheridan Theater” and that Edward Hopper lived in the Village, but I wonder if 1) it really is THE Loew’s Sheridan in Greenwich Village; 2) he took liberties with his depiction of the interior; or 3) the theater was extensively remodeled after he painted his picture.
I say this because the painting seems to show one of those cut-outs in the ceiling over the orchestra that was discussed a month or two ago on the page for the Rivoli theater. I don’t recall such a cut out there when I went to see “2,001 Odyssey” there in the late 1960s. Of course, I may have not noticed it or maybe I’ve forgotten about it. But do other people remember it?
Also, given that the site of the Loew’s Sheridan was smallish for a movie theater (I think) and had an unusual shape, it would seem odd that they would have such a space waster as a a cut out in the floor of the balcony level (which could have been used for lounge space, etc.).
Strange, RobertR, because it was a very popular “neighborhood” theater. As I mentioned earlier, for those of us further north (Chelsea section in the 50s-early 60s), you had to go here, or 42nd St, to see the MGM, Columbia, UA, Paramount flics. I recall seeing Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Martin & Lewis, Hitchcock’s MGM-Paramount films. Even a double feature of Artists & Models-Trouble with Harry. (I have some more 50s-60s double features-let me know me if interested)
Enclosed one-sheets of the Coming Attractions, with I believe 1-2 stills, lined the brick wall on Greenwich Ave and 7th Ave. The lot was triangular, as you can appreciate on mapquest.com. Draw a line from Bank St to 12th St and that should be the layout of the theater. The Greenwich Theater was at the point where 12th Street cut sharply west across Greenwich Ave.
And yes, the matron in her white nurses' outfit with flashlight. Every matron looked the same as the other theater’s…..spooky.
It’s funny I have never come across anyone who has even mentioned this theatre or attended it.
Growing up in Chelsea in the 50s & 60s, we had the great RKO on 23rd & 8th (showing WB, Fox, U-I, Allied Artists, AIP flics) and the Sheridan in the Village showing MGM, Paramount, Columbia, UA flics. I recall that Jerry Lewis would appear at all of the Loews' theaters on the opening of his new film. He’d spend 10 minutes on each stage before moving on to the next. Heart breaking to see the RKO shut down and eventually burn down; then about 9 years later the Sheridan was demolished for little apparent reason.
Jerry from 42nd Street Memories
Sorry, I left out the most amusing part of this story: I had read the reviews of “2001” and apparently one of the big criticism of the time was that it was a very slow-paced movie. So at first (the first 30-45 seconds?), while I was sitting there “watching the movie,” I thought to myself, “Boy, the critics were certainly right about this being one slow-paced movie!” And then for a while I was thinking to myself, “Nothing is happening — what’s going on here?” And, finally, there was the embarrasment of realizing that this was only the break between showings!
[This didn’t show up the first time I submitted it, so I am resubmitting. I hope it doesn’t wind up being posted twice!]
I missed 2001 Space Odysey (sp?) when it was playing uptown at the Capitol, so I went to see it at the Loew’s Sheridan instead — probably just before it closed in 1969. When I walked into the auditorium, music from the film was being played and the screen was dark with all these pinpoints of light. I probably had planned to get to the movie at its scheduled showing time, but when I entered the auditorium I assumed I had arrived late. But then this “scene” of a starfield with that music just kept on going on forever — and then after an interminably long time, the movie actually began! So my guess is that someone in the management had probably decided that this would be a “cool” way to entertain patrons during breaks between showings and had somehow found a way to project a “junk” starfield on the screen while playing the “2001” music. This was my only visit to the Loew’s Sheridan, so I never really got a chance to look at and appreciate whatever the inside of the theater was like!
I recall watching Hard Days Night as well as Fantastic Voyage, Journey To The Center of The Earth, and many James Bond films. One thing that sticks out in my mind is that on Saturdays the management would try to cram all the kids into one section…me being anti-social even at such a tender age wanted nothing to do with such noise makers and voiced my opposition. And then there was that short film by the Will Rogers Institute that asked for a donation after which the ushers would come around and try to cajole us into contributing. I remember asking one of the ushers how could I know that them money would actually get to the charity! What nerve, eh? LOL Needless to say, they didn’t bother me after that. Farewell ol taint.
To: Rudy….you might find that the block was triangular and the theatre built within a diamond pattern in the triangle, the foyer being the left over angle. (Get a pen and paper and try it, it does work) It is the same size and shape and capapcity as cinemas built in Sydney at Bondi where the same block pattern had the same type of cinemas built. Going by the photo, the screen looks to be at the left where the flytower is. It might have aslo has a curved / horseshoe upstairs to cram in more seats.
I look at this site every day and cannot figure how a 2300 seat house ever fit on it. Could anyone tell me the footprint of the theatre – where the stage was and in which direction the seats faced. I gotta say, I admire anyone who saw moveis here.